


Sudden Mutations

by simplykayley



Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Mutant Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 17:24:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16917144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplykayley/pseuds/simplykayley
Summary: In which Reed's newly manifesting powers rear their head and he must ask for help from his friends to get them under control.





	Sudden Mutations

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively titled In which I ignored basically all of Season 2 so far and create what I want. 
> 
> But basically, I loved the plotline where they give Reed his powers back but I hate his mutation choice. Like, they couldn't think of anything else? Maybe his powers aren't fully manifested yet on the show but I guess that's what fanfiction is for. So I gave him a power that seemed to be similar to his father's, which is energy manipulation. That puts his up there in line with some pretty powerful mutants because that brings in factors like telekinesis, which is kind of explained in the story.

Out of everyone in the whole building of mutants with varying powers it was actually Lauren that began to notice the very, very late manifestation of his powers. 

It began with small, insignificant things that Reed played off as such to those that wouldn't look twice. The battery of a phone drained as soon as it touched his hands. Computers fritzing suddenly when his emotions got to him. 

Then suddenly, after the lightbulb of a lamp had briefly flared up with blinding light before bursting into a million shards under Reed's touch, Lauren seemed to appear out of nowhere and grabbed his wrist tightly before he could pull it back to hold against his chest. 

“Dad.” She said sternly, just as he opened his mouth to speak. 

“How long has it been going on?” She seemed to know exactly what she was talking about and he wanted to scoff at her, to act as if a lightbulb had not just broken under his light touch without even a thought or action. Just acknowledging the potential manifestation of his powers in his head made him want to break down in a much deserved tantrum of stress. 

He looked around the small room suspiciously as if Sentinel Services was hiding around the corner but they were alone, Caitlin and most of the rest busy with a group of sick mutant children that had been picked up during a raid the month before. 

“I started noticing small stuff happening a few weeks ago.” He muttered and Lauren glared at him in a look not dissimilar to the one that her mother often gave him. 

“Why wouldn't you tell anyone?” She hissed. “I am a mutant, your daughter, you are friends with high figures in the Mutant Underground, dad. What did you think we were going to do?” 

“We didn't have time for this, Lauren. Everyone has been so busy.” He said back and her expression softened. After their relocation to D.C., loss of Andy and Lorna and renunciation with Lorna, everyone had basically been moving around without stop.

“Well.” She began. “Almost nothing important has happened. I'm sure that the others will have no problem with stopping the constant need for light bulbs.” 

He glared at her attempts with humor but did not argue with her logic. It was unlikely that he would be able to control himself alone. Maybe if he was 25 years younger, closer to Lauren's age, he would be able to hold himself together better like his daughter had when she had found out she was a mutant. However, he was a 40 year old man that had lived a life without the knowledge that his X-Gene had been suppressed for years before they could even manifest by a serum that his own father injected into him. His case was not one that was usual. 

Lauren looked at him with raised eyebrows and in that moment she reminded him so much of her mother. Her personality and bravery almost a direct mirror to the woman's. He was deeply saddened that one of the only things he could give her was something that put them on the run for the rest of their life. 

He slowly nodded and she beamed. “I guess we can tell the others about our situation.” But he raised his eyebrows at her, his eyes filling with much needed humor. “But your mom is going to be mad.”

 

<>

His and Lauren's call for a meeting in their small dining room had raised many eyebrows, most of all from Caitlin, who alternated between looking at her daughter and her husband. 

Suddenly Clarice had had enough of their stumbling around from across the room and her rolled up into her head in her typical style. “Oh my god, if one of you doesn't spit it out then I'm going to blink myself out of here from the awkwardness.” Everyone cracked a grin and chuckled. 

Reed took a deep breath and Lauren bumped her hip against his and shot him a simple smile that gave him the courage to open his mouth and start talking. “You remember when I told you guys about the experiments that suppressed the effects of my x-gene, right?” 

Everyone nodded their heads slowly, more confused and Caitlin looked scared as she leaned forward in her seat. “It's...it's stopped for some reason.” He stumbled but was spurred on by the looks of concern on the faces of the people he had come to call his friends. “And my mutation has began to manifest now instead of at puberty like it should have.” 

Silence. 

Clarice and Marco blinked. Caitlin ran a hand down her face as she stared at him. John stared at him with raised eyebrows. And Lorna let out a short from her place perched up on the counter. 

The silence seemed to get to Lauren's nerves as well. “But we can teach him how to control it. Like how Lorna did with me and the others.” She said, walking closer to the table as the others seemed to try and shake off their shock at the revelation. 

Lorna was the first to jump in at that. “Oh yeah, I'm going to be so excited to train him with all of the other little mutant children. He and Dawn can be in the same graduating class.” She giggled and Reed glared at her but she didn't seem to acknowledge it. 

“Reed, why didn't you say anything sooner?” Caitlin asked desperately, standing up and walking to stand in front of her husband. Everyone nodded, interested in the answer as well. 

“I just knew that everyone has been so busy, we didn't have time to completely focus on it just yet.” He tried weakly and they all looked around at each other in mutual understanding. Basically everyone had forgiven Lorna and accepted her and Dawn back into the Underground but it was still fresh on their mind. 

“We will always be on hand to help you learn to control your abilities. We will help you start to train as soon as we can.” John pipped up and Marco and Clarice nodded their agreement as they all stood up. 

“You're a little late but always welcome brother.” Marco said with a grin that Reed returned slowly, patting him on the back. 

“Yeah, welcome to the x-gene club Reed. We're happy to have you.” Clarice laughed. 

<>

Lauren chattered happily about everything that he was going to be able to learn and do as she followed beside Reed in their quest to find Lorna. Everyone had been working him down enough over the past couple days since their conversation about his powers so that he finally went to her for some training in controlling them. 

The two find Lorna is the basement of the abandoned building that they had been living in talking over something with Clarice. When the green haired woman looked up and noticed them a humorous smile grew across her face and Clarice shook her head in pity for the man. 

“Here to train?” Lorna asked and he stepped down the stairs towards her, Lauren silent behind him. 

“Actually.” He started, “Yes, I am. Everyone finally wore me down enough about it.”

Lorna nodded her understanding and turn her back to him to walk towards a table in the middle of the room. “Well, Marco was telling me a little about what you’ve been experiencing and it sounds like something I could be familiar with, I just want to try out one thing first and see…”

A medium hunk of metal that had been tossed to the floor was suddenly flying towards Reed’s face and without even a thought his eyes widened and he cringed back, waiting for the pain but less then a second before it slammed into his face, it stopped in mid air and fell harmlessly to the floor at his feet. 

He looked at the piece of metal on the floor in surprise before glaring up at Lorna when he understood what had happened but she just grinned in delight as she stalked over to him. “This is going to be so much fun. I think that you are going to be my best student yet.” He wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not and before he could ask she looked towards Lauren and Clarice. “I’m going to need your guys help.”

And with that they got to work. 

Suddenly everything in his life became a lesson, about everything from control to different techniques he could use to better his powers for when he was in a fight. Everyone from John to Marco to a random refugee that they had rescued from the Purifiers pitched in with their own personal information that could help him on his quest to control. 

Lauren often stuck around to act as a shield for Reed and Lorna in case his powers lost control while in the moment and Clarice stayed to the sidelines as their own personal cheerleader while occasionally giving her advice as well. Caitlin took the news that not only both of her children were mutants, but her husband as well, extremely better than most would have in that situation and only discussed with Reed the fact that she was safe to come to with any important information like that ever again and he had agreed. Then with almost everything in line, he slowly but surely got better with his powers, even impressing Polaris herself every once and awhile. 

“There are so many different forms of energy around us, who even knows what your powers can work on.” Lorna said excitedly from the kitchen table where she was flipping a spoon in the air with her powers, where she had began to take up residence when Reed had learn to better control his powers during training and they had brought their lessons up stairs to the apartments. The two of them had struck up an odd and unlikely friendship during Reed’s training that neither ever tried to mention. “Telekinesis is just about the movement of energy and we have already seen that you are capable of that on a small scale. The electricity could even maybe be altered by your mutation.”

“What do you think the full extent to my powers are?” He asked, coming to sit across from her and she stared at him for a moment as if pondering the question before she shrugged her shoulders. 

“I have no idea.”

<>

It was no surprise to basically anyone that 3 months after his powers began manifesting and only a little over a month after he began training, Reed was thrust into a surprise battle with Purifiers. 

Lorna and Caitlin had, thank god, stuck back home while he, Lauren, Marco, John and Clarice went to help out another group of refugee mutants with new identification and temporary housing because Dawn had come down with a unknown sickness, and Reed, convinced that it would be an easy and quick job, had told Caitlin to stay behind to help a scared Lorna and he that would be able to watch Lauren closely enough while they were away. 

He was naive to believe that it would be that easy. It was something that he was beginning to notice about his life. Nothing was that easy.

It was a group of about 15 young mutants, no older than 20 that had all grouped together in a old apartment complex to hide away from Sentinel Services and Purifiers, who seemed to have eyes and ears on every street corner and were only growing. Purifiers had gotten word from someone living near by about a few strange looking young people entering and leaving the complex and they had torched the whole place to the ground. 

They all went around to give a comforting word to the coughing, soot covered kids and Reed began to set up his station to work. It all went completely normal and as planned until a gunshot had rung out and then the door was slammed down. One of the mutant kids fell to the ground and another cried out as they all jumped up in alarm. John jumped forward to try and throw the first Purifier out and Marcos raised his hands up to assist but a shotgun shell slammed into John’s chest and he flew back with a shout. 

Lauren threw up a shield to try and stop any other bullets from coming in but it wouldn’t stop the group for very long. Clarice quickly ushered the group of young mutants to the back so that she could try and create a portal to get them out of there. 

Reed had no idea what to do. He stared at his daughter’s back in completely shock before glancing over at Marcos, who was helping up John.

Then the first Purifier glanced around the edge of the door and he just acted. 

One of his hands raised up and the man flew back with a shout and the gunfire seemed to quicken in pace as the group drew closer. Lauren looked over her shoulder at him and he stood beside her as he took in the scene outside. 

The whole group of men seemed to stare down at the man on the ground before they started back up once again. Jace Turner was at the forefront of the whole attack, a blow horn held tight in his hand. “Come out peacefully and you won’t be harmed.” He tried to call into them and the father and daughter shared a look, they had heard that many times before. 

Turner could barely let out a shout at the sight of the very much alive Strucker father and daughter before he was thrown back with a majority of his friends. The bullets they fired slammed into Lauren’s shield and fell to the ground, harmless. Reed stuck out another hand and remembered everything that Lorna had told him when she put a cellphone in his hand and told him to drain the battery. Slowly but surely after a moment of concentration every truck in the lot seemed to sputter and die. Turner had gotten up from the ground and was now staring at the two in complete and utter surprise. It was probably not one of their better ideas to let the man know that they were still alive but there wasn’t much that they could do about it now. 

Marcos grabbed their shoulders and pulled them back in quickly. He threw them a raised eyebrow before pushing them towards a portal that Clarice had created and that John was ushering people through.

Lauren grabbed Reed’s hand and they shared a quick look before the jumped through the portal as well. They were quickly followed by John, Marcos and Clarice and suddenly they were all safe and sound. 

Clarice suddenly whooped and slapped him on the shoulder. “That was so awesome, Mr. Strucker. Where have you been hiding that during training?”

He glared at her but cracked a grin when the rest of the group laughed. “I’ve been saving all my energy.” He joked.

Lauren suddenly hugged him tightly and he wrapped his arms around her, a look of confusion on his face. “I’m just so glad that we are all okay.” she laughed and he suddenly understood and held her tighter. 

“I am too.” He muttered.

**Author's Note:**

> So how did you all like it? This was a story that was mostly done while I had bad writer's block so it's probably not going to be my best but try not to rage on me too badly. 
> 
> Let me know if you have anymore Reed one shot plots that you want to see! There isn't enough fanfics about him on Ao3 which is so surprising because his story is pretty angsty and generally fanfiction worthy. But anyone, I would love to bring what you want to read to your screen, lol. 
> 
> And weirdly I just wanted to see a relationship between Lorna and Reed that extremely contrasted with what we saw in the beginning of Season 1 and this was born.


End file.
